I found that the single thing that made the biggest difference for us was to practice hearing the individual sounds of words. We did this casually: while I was cooking, I would make a game of "guess the word" where I would say each separate sound in a word very slowly and distinctly. She loved to see how quickly she could hear words from the separate sounds, and I found that it wasn't long before she translated that to her reading.

Ditto - We have just received the materials and Hubby and I are absolutely thrilled with this. We expect to learn lots through this! The parents' guide is wonderfully articulated, and the activities look interesting and memorable. I doubt I'll be able to wait until August to start this one.

Definitely get the whiteboard elsewhere! I find it invaluable in our AAS lessons, but also found it much cheaper at a local store.

So far our plans are: Math: Singapore 1B/2A, MEP, Math Mammoth Spelling: All About Spelling 2/3 Grammar: FLL 2 Writing: WWE 1 History: SOTW 1 Science: Real Science-4-Kids Pre-1 Biology; Nature walks Geography: FIAR; mapping French: Le Français Facile Junior Art: Artist studies plus lots of painting / sketching / crafts Music: Beginning piano; composer studies Memory Work: Poems, history dates, continental shapes, Bible This is fun - thanks for starting this!